


A Helping Hand

by Earthiana



Series: Watch out, Everybody, I'm blind Matt Murdock! [6]
Category: Daredevil (Comics), Daredevil (TV), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Blind Character, Blindness, Dice the Devil-dog, Dogs, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Matt Murdock Needs a Hug, Matt gets a dog, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Service Dogs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-05
Updated: 2017-08-05
Packaged: 2018-12-11 07:04:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11709327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Earthiana/pseuds/Earthiana
Summary: Matt's new gift from Foggy is a smelly, overexcited animal with no sense of boundaries. Foggy and Clint seem rather eager about the premise.ORThe adventures of Daredevil and Dice the Dare-dog!





	A Helping Hand

**Author's Note:**

> So, Dice is canon but he's called Deuce the Dare-dog (I didn't like the name; creative liberties). Also:Dice is a German Shepherd.
> 
> You can see him here:  
> http://www.theothermurdockpapers.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/va2cnypnhi.gif
> 
> *I don't know police/sniffer dog commands so I used some basic ones*
> 
> Please give me feedback to let me know if you like Dice or not.

“Growf! Rar! Rawf!” The second Matt steps into the office, a heated body tackles him. Its heart beats a mile a minute, buzzing in its chest.

“What?!” Matt exclaims in confusion as something wet and rough slathers his face with moisture.

“Matt! I see you’ve met your new…” Foggy trails off.

“My new pet bear, Foggy?” Matt demands. The smell is overwhelming and is that dog shit he smells? “Why is there a dog in our office?”

“It’s your new seeing eye dog!” Foggy exclaims.

Matt doesn’t respond because the monstrous thing just tackled him. Not exactly helpful for the average blind man.

“I don’t _want_ a seeing-eye dog! Foggy, I don’t _need_ —” Matt starts but his friend interrupts.

“But he’s not _really_ a seeing eye dog. He’s a failed police dog – I bribed our local cop.” Foggy explains. “He can help fight crime when you’re Daredevil!”

Matt sends a doubtful glance in the animal’s direction. It seems to have calmed down, at least.

“Meet Dice the Devil-dog!” Foggy introduces him.

Karen takes pity on him and he hears her snap a lead around the animal’s neck. “He’s actually very well behaved when he’s in his jacket. We even found him a guide dog vest.”

“Why do I feel like this is already decided?” Matt asks himself as he goes to find himself some of Karen’s bad coffee.

  


The dog walks politely by his side, obeying his commands as he leads it (NOT the other way around!) to his apartment.

“You smell.” Matt accuses, undoing the vest. Once it’s off, the dog bounds around the new space eagerly, sniffing with its wet snout.

It feels big with pointed ears, but Matt doesn’t care to find out what it is. He’s not attached.

He finds the dog’s collar and takes it to his bathroom, where he lifts the beast into the tub and turns on the shower head. It doesn’t seem to mind the water, Matt finds, as he lathers the animal in dog shampoo.

The corner shop owner hadn’t batted an eye at his new companion.

“I bet you’re pleased with yourself.” Matt grumbles as he struggles to rub the strawberry suds into the thick fur. Hairs stick to his hands and he finds himself almost gagging on multiple occasions.

He sprays the animal with the water until it no longer feels like soap, then grabs what he hopes is an old towel.

The dog, however, leaps out of the tub with reckless abandon and sprays water droplets all over Matt.

He doesn’t curse Foggy. Not yet, anyway.

“Stand.” He tells the animal, who stays on all fours but finds an interest in Matt’s knee.

_At least the smell has improved._

Dice is damp but no longer soaked when Matt is finished with him. It occurs to the man that he needs to buy the thing a bed, but he uses the towel for now.

He lies it on the floor of his living room and moves the dog onto it, grimacing at each wet paw print he hears being left on his nice floor.

“Lie down.” Matt tries, then. “Down.”

Dice obeys, at that.

Matt leaves it in search of food. In his kitchen, he finds enough food for dinner but he really has to go grocery shopping.

He’s in the middle of cutting salmon into slices when he feels a muzzle nudge his thigh. It’s accompanied by a high pitched whine.

“Hungry?” Matt asks, not harshly. He can’t blame the animal for wanting food.

So, when the salmon is cooking and Dice is whimpering, he can’t help but take pity on it.

Matt transfers half of the fish to his plate, which already has a salad by this point, and the other half to a bowl (which he reminds himself to disinfect at a later hour).

Matt finds himself with company at his kitchen island, for once. Dice is eating at his feet, knocking the bowl around a little, but enjoying himself from the sound of his swishing tail.

_Young Matthew Murdock sat at the cafeteria table, fighting a losing battle as he tries to swallow the overcooked potato handed to him previously by a nun._

_They were over five seats away, Matt found it difficult to tell back then, but he had made sure he wasn’t in their way._

_Regardless, when they slowly lifted their plates and creeped away from the—_

Matt reaches down, annoyed, when Dice tugs on his trouser leg. The dog immediately releases him and returns to eating.

Matt lifts his knife and fork to start on his own dinner and, if his hands are shaking, it’s not something he worries about.

  


The dog jumps onto his bed in the middle of the night.

The fur is sure to scatter across the sheets like fallen needles, not to mention the dampness, but the devil doesn’t quite complain when Dice snuggles against his back, chin resting on his arm.

The dog’s warmth gently lulls him to sleep.

  


“You got a dog?” Clint asks.

If Daredevil’s proud of the red vest the animal wears, he doesn’t mention it.

“He’s a gift.” Matt grumbles. Then, to the dog: “Dice, come.”

The _clip_ of claws against the street move towards him, then stop at his feet.

“Don’t pet him. He’s on duty.” The Devil tells Clint.

“Sure. Have one, myself. Lucky stays at SHIELD, though.” Hawkeye explains. “He’s helpful… after missions.”

Matt gets the sense that Lucky’s help might have something to do with the way Dice tugged his trouser leg less than a week prior but doesn’t mention it.

Dice starts barking suddenly. He runs swiftly along the street, sniffing something eagerly.

Daredevil and Hawkeye follow; they hadn’t planned on patrolling, just a simple meet-and-greet. The dog leads Matt along the path of something sweet but he can’t quite label the scent.

Then Dice stops, stock still, but growls lowly.

“Look, Man, I wasn’t hurting nobody.” A shaky voice calls from the alleyway Dice lead them to.

Matt can smell cocaine, heroin, and cannabis, in addition to that sweet smell.

“Drug dealer.” Hawkeye says before Matt can.

In that instant, Dice starts howling and the dealer runs to the opposite end of the alley, which leads into an empty street.

“Attack!” Matt commands Dice, who chases after the man much faster than Matt.

There’s a wail as Dice’s teeth pierce flesh. There’s the faint smell of blood as Dice shakes the man’s arm.

Matt approaches the dealer. “Dice, release.”

The dog, suddenly changing his mood, backs away calmly. As Hawkeye makes quick work of binding the man’s hands to deliver him to the police, Daredevil approaches his pet.

“Good boy.” Matt congratulates him earnestly.

  


_“Give him a chance.” Hawkeye had encouraged him._

The corner store owner doesn’t bat his eyes when Matt Murdock leads Dice inside. Foggy leads him, grinning, to the dog section, and Matt allows his pet to sniff out the perfect bed.

“Why is he called Dice?” Matt finally asks.

“He’s white with a black spot on his back.” Foggy explains. “The vest covers it.”

Matt considers this as Dice takes a particular interest in what feels to be a fluffy, circular bed.

“It’s red.” Foggy tells him, as if that’s supposed to mean anything.

Matt picks up the thing, not quite as begrudging as he wishes he was.

  


Back in their apartment and out of Foggy’s sight, Dice finds his owner setting up his new bed (though he does expect another cuddling session in his _bigger_ bed tonight).

His owner doesn’t look very pleased as he fiddles with the fluffy interior. He’s not moving very much and his breathing is labored.

Dice, unaccepting of this, licks his owner a couple of times on the face until he gets some attention.

His owner doesn’t seem to mind, Dice realizes when he finds a loving hand petting his back.

**Author's Note:**

> Service dogs are highly trained animals. Anyone who pretends to have a service dog in real life, for whatever reason, is discrediting service dogs who have actually been through vigorous training. If you claim to have a service dog and it hasn't been properly trained (is running around, uncontrolled, with a vest on and generally misbehaving), you are doing a disservice to people who actually need service dogs and the dogs themselves.
> 
> Also: The reason why you SHOULD NOT PET A SERVICE DOG who is on duty is the same reason why it wears a vest. It has a job to do. By distracting the dog, you could potentially cause harm to an individual, not to mention that it breaks the dog's training. Please remember that, just because a dog is in your vicinity and may be 'cute', you are not entitled to touch/distract it. You should always ask the owner (even with non-service dogs). They may give permission, they may not.
> 
> Please be courteous. Thank you.


End file.
